瓜瓜斋第92期：《苏东坡传》谈书法一节试译

上上一期，我们摘录了林语堂《苏东坡传》里与中国传统文化相关的英文词汇，本期，我们在该书中挑出三段谈中国书画（主要是书法）的文字，试译成中文，并略作探讨，来看一看林语堂先生的书法观。

It is perhaps easiest to explain Chinese calligraphy by saying that it is really a form of abstract painting. The problems of Chinese calligraphy and of abstract painting are similar. In judging Chinese calligraphy, the critics completely ignore the meaning of the words, and treat it essentially as an abstract composition. It is abstract painting in the sense that unlike painting in general, it does not try to portray any recognizable object. Chinese characters are composed of lines and combinations of lines put together in an infinite variety of ways, and art requires that these characters be put together beautifully in themselves, and in relation to other characters on the same line or page. As the Chinese characters are composed of the most complex elements, they present all the problems of composition, including axis, contour, organization, contrast, balance, proportion, and above all, a central unifying conception of the whole.

（对于不懂中文、不了解中国传统文化的西方人来说）把书法当作抽象绘画来看，会容易理解得多。书法和抽象绘画面对的问题有些类似。在品鉴书法时，品鉴者完全可以忽略文辞，把它当做一件抽象作品。之所以这么说，是因为二者都不是描绘具象。汉字由笔划构成，其构成方式丰富多样，艺术原则促使这些笔划以美的方式结合成字，若干字成为一行，若干行成为一篇，从字到行再到篇，有机和谐。汉字的构成如此复杂，从而呈现了一系列有关“结构”的问题，包括轴线、轮廓、搭配、对比、平衡、比例等，当然，还有极为重要的整体统一问题。

All problems of art are problems of rhythm, whether in painting, sculpture, or music. As long as beauty is movement, every art form has an implied rhythm. Even in architecture, a Gothic cathedral aspires, a bridge spans, and a prison broods. Aesthetically, it is possible even to speak of the “dash” and “sweep” and “ruggedness” of a man’s moral character, which are all concepts of rhythm. The basic concept of rhythm in Chinese art is established by calligraphy. When a Chinese critic admires calligraphy, he does not admire it for its static proportions or symmetry, but rather follows the artist mentally in his movement from the beginning of a character to the end and so on to the end of the page, as if he were watching a dance on paper. The approach to this type of abstract painting is therefore different from that of Western abstract painting. Its fundamental thesis is that beauty is movement, and it is this basic concept of rhythm which develops into a guiding principle of Chinese painting.

艺术的关节，无外乎韵律问题。绘画、雕塑和音乐皆如此。只要美是“动”的，各种形式的艺术品就暗含着韵律。即便如建筑，一座哥特式教堂，一架横跨河岸的桥梁，一所监狱，也有“美”的韵律藏于其间。从审美的角度看，形容某人性情的词语，如冲动、鲁莽、粗犷，也暗示着某种节奏。中国艺术中关于韵律的基本概念，是以书法为根基的。中国艺术批评家在称赞书法时，不是激赏它那固定的比例和对称之美，而是随着笔划的律动，从头至尾，体验一种精神上的韵律之美，如同观赏纸上的舞蹈。因此，有别于西方的抽象画，书法于审美上的基本命题是，美是有韵律的运动。这个原则逐渐成为中国画的指导原则。

This conception of rhythmic beauty in movement changes all the artist’s concepts of line, mass, surface, composition, and material. For if beauty is dynamic and not static, all even, straight lines and surfaces, resembling engineers’ blueprints, are ruled out, and instead one must seek, for instance, the twisted and uneven lines of a tree branch, for only bending and twisting can suggest life and movement. One can easily see the life and movement of such uneven lines where the sensitive pressures, pauses and sweeps, and accidental splashes of brush are carefully and purposefully preserved. It may be stated as a fundamental principle of Chinese painting and calligraphy that straight, even lines are abhorred and strictly taboo, except in case of necessity, as when one is sketching the outline of a desk or table. The very concept of composition is changed, too. A Chinese artist cannot be satisfied with merely the static arrangement and contrasting of lines and surfaces, so long as those lines and surfaces are dead in themselves. From here on begins the emphasis on vital lines, which accounts for the difference between Chinese painting technique and other forms of the same art.

韵律美的概念，左右着艺术家对各个艺术元素的理解，这些元素包括线、块、面、作品结构以及材料等。设若美是动态而非静止的，那么，所有类似于工程师绘制工程蓝图时所使用的均匀平直的线和面，将被艺术家抛弃，代之以扭转和不规则的线条，就像（中国画中）树枝的弯曲和缠绕，是因为生命和运动的缘故。在书法中，我们可以通过动态式的欣赏，体会到由果断而又细腻的提按、停顿、飞白、以及偶然溅出的墨点带来的生命体验。在中国画和书法里，平直僵硬的线条总是令人生厌的，甚至成为禁忌，这几乎成了一条基本原则——除非迫不得已，比如在画桌子的轮廓时。不光是线条，艺术家对于“结构”的观念也发生了变化，中国艺术家鄙弃僵化的安排和对比，这种安排和对比是由线和面的僵死导致的。对富有生气的线条的强调，是中国书画和其他绘画艺术的重要区别。

该书写于二十世纪三四十年代，作者也不是研究书法的专业人士，却能探得时代脉搏，将书法跟西方抽象艺术进行比较。文中提到的具象、线条、面、块、轴线、轮廓、搭配、对比、平衡、比例、材料等美学词汇，大都源于西方。且不管林语堂先生谈得深刻不深刻（貌似不深刻，也不见得精彩，但明白），只这种跟西方现代主义作比较的眼光，已属难得。时隔半个世纪，直到1980年代，西方艺术观念大量流入中国后，中国的书法界人士才大开眼界，觉得找到了突出传统堡垒的机关枪，欢喜得不得了，于是乎有“抽象书法”前无古人地出来了。

必须指出，这批书法人士，和林语堂的出发点一致，落脚点却不同。林在短短的几段文字里，先提出书法和抽象艺术的“同”，最后却强调了“异”，即书法的“韵律美”的独特性，他并没有给书法指出一条通向抽象艺术的路（因为他穿袍子嘛）。不料，这条路由新时代的中国书法家和理论家开拓出来。“抽象书法”曾一度非常流行，理论家们也积极用西方艺术理论话语来构建书法的理论体系。

窃以为，抽象书法，如果把它当做一种艺术，或有可取之处，如果当作书法，搞不好就是垃圾。玩抽象书法的人，可以叫他艺术家，最好不要叫书法家。至于用西方艺术理论来阐释中国书法到底行不行，我不懂，不敢乱讲。近年来，不管是写字的还是搞理论的，都有一个趋势，回归传统。不管其中的动机是什么，大家可能觉得还是得回到过去，老老实实，重新汲取营养。这个回归，不光是对“现代性”的反动，也是对近代以来“碑学帖学”的反思。

艺术无国界，但应有边界。林语堂先生看着像一位通俗作家，但他对于书法的见识，没有越过边界，可谓不俗。